


Transition

by sadfuckboy



Category: RWBY
Genre: Family, Grief/Mourning, Healing, M/M, Young kids, unspoken feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-09
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2019-03-02 21:45:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13326993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadfuckboy/pseuds/sadfuckboy
Summary: Snow white rose and the corona of a sun, the women taiyang loved and cherished like the world was made by them.But the summer ended as fast as it bloomed and the black hole turned sun hid behind clouds. The man was left alone with his over spilling love.Only to be found by a star, flower and bird. His true loved ones.





	Transition

**Author's Note:**

> old RWBY fic that's been sitting on my computer for quite a while. This is canon compliant expect for the fact that i might erase Qrow's semblance? This is a healing fic and I want to discuss his absence from Tai's life more as a factor of his commitment fear and internal struggles, rather than just bad luck from birth. But everything is still open.
> 
> This has a lot of mistakes and clumsy language because I was too lazy to fix some bad parts that much.

We all know how quickly summer fades away. Summer love, summer dreams. All the sun and hopes for a year always end. Fall hits so hard.

 

She was officially assumed missing by the end of august. 

Taiyang crumbled down immediately. The kids, his duties and goals had kept him going when it had still been just a postponed return, but being pronounced missing was too much. It made it feel absolute. The weight became unbearable. 

His mind fell lower than the leaves on trees. Condition turning brown with the weather. Feelings sinking into the dark autumn ponds. The man couldn’t get up from his bed anymore, no matter what happened. Locking himself in his small room with both metaphorical and concrete locks.

 

\--

 

Yang knocked on his door every hour, her light shining from beneath it. Little legs still standing, but only because she wasn’t old enough to fully understand. She just hoped to see the man she believed could lift mountains. But her father was broken. Tayang stayed hidden in the dark, velvety air of his room.

 

The news had come in the morning, marking the time for the star to grow up. After the formally dressed, grief colored women had left, the older sister was the head of the house. 

 

Yang carried Ruby around, stole cookies for her from the top shelf and tried to make the littlest girl laugh. Since her little sister’s laugh was prettier than a rose in full bloom. It was the sound that made the corners of Yang’s mouth itch upwards without forcing and lighted a blissful warmth in her heart.

 

With so much weight pressing their young brains, nap time became three times longer. Blankets were laid on the livingroom floor so that they’d hear if their father woke up. The heart of the house also felt the safest. The first day moved forward slowly

  
  
  


On the evening they were woken up by a knock on the door. Echo of the ebony made Ruby sprung up like the pea vine in stories. She ran quickly to the door. Yang hazily picked up to her paste. 

 

It was quarter to nine and slightly dark outside. Her sister jumped up and down to see out of the window. Yang was the one who could reach the door handle. 

 

They never locked their door, no one came this far into the forest without clear intentions to meet them. Yet the mysterious figure outside their door hadn’t marched in, it was calmly waiting for an answer, it couldn’t be anything hostile? Couldn’t it? Yang pulled the door open slowly and peeked out of the crack. Behind her Ruby stood on tiptoes and tried to peek over her shoulder.

 

First their eyes met with a familiar pair of worn out pants. Then quickly with an extremely familiar, yet always missed, face.

 

“Uncle-Qrow!!” 

 

Fatigue, pain and worry covered the whole being of their father’s closest friend, but it got pushed aside the minute he saw the kids. A honest smile formed on his lips before he even thought about it himself. He felt welcomed some for the longest time. 

 

“Hi rascals.” His voice was the usual mix of exhaustion and dread, but now it also held true happiness and affection. Qrow crouched lower to look at the brown skinned toddler and the yellow mained child from eye level. “I’m happy to see you again.” 

 

The kids might not catch all the weight behind those words, but they didn’t have to.

Both of the girls blinked once at each other, and then jumped to hug their uncle. 

 

The hug was warm and long. Strands of yang’s hair getting tangled in the locks of Qrow’s weaponstraps and Ruby’s cheek ichin from the evident stubble on his chin. Ruby giggled. Yang straight up laughed. 

She had already told herself she would had to be that someone, who was there for her and Ruby.

Immerse weight for a young girl like her. 

But now it wouldn’t have to be like that. An adult was there.

 

No one else knew, nor would probably even believe, but that was exactly why Qrow was there. People saw him as the strategic lone wolf. Who only thought of himself and caused trouble. An alienated alcoholic. 

But truly, he understood people far more greatly than most did. The moment he had heard about Summer’s official disappearance, he had taken on running. Abandoning all his responsibilities and other worries.

 

STRQ. They were a family and he knew them all better than a crow knows its parents. He knew Taiyang couldn’t take it. He knew Raven wouldn’t do anything. His sweet sister.

He had to be there for him. And for Ruby and Yang as well. Children should stay as children. Not take the step to the role of adults when their caretakers grumbled down. 

 

He skipped Taiyang for now. Qrow’s mind was not certain of its own endurance and he felt like the fragile man wasn’t ready to face another loved one. They both needed time and children were more mortal. 

 

“Have you guys eaten?”

 

Almost instantly Ruby’s stomach grumbled. She flinched. Yang looked bothered. 

“Well… no one has.. made any food yet..” the last words came out as a whisper. Yang stared at the floor and quickly glimpsed at the direction of his father’s room. Looking tense when she noticed that Qrow had followed her line of sight.

 

Ruby tapped her bunny sock covered feet . “Is Uncle-Qrow going to make us food?” Her voice was still a bit clumsy. Tanglin in missing teeth and soft cheeks. 

 

Qrow smiled affirmatively and Ruby beamed back at him. “Yes. Yes I’m going to make you two some food. It’s going to be great.” He got up and quickly caught Ruby to a firm hold and spun her around in the air. Kicking the door closed behind him while the black haired little girl screamed with joy. 

 

Yang had already ran to sit at the kitchen counter. The lights were on and someone loved was home.

 

\----

 

Qrow took care of the girls for the following days without seeing Taiyang once. He heard him leave his room in the middle of the night, hours after Ruby and Yang had fallen asleep, but never confronted the grieving man. At the moment Taiyang needed time to sort himself out. After that Qrow would make him understand that there were still people who wanted to help him

 

\--

 

The muffled sound of a door opening woke Qrow from his sleep. It had been eight days since he had arrived, the days were almost casual now. 

 

He had claimed the sofa closest to the girls room as his bed. The brown chair stood barely five meters from the wooden door. A position from which it would be easy to detect and pacify intruders. Deeply rooted paranoia isn’t so easy to just ignore. Qrow felt the need to be ready for anything. Even when the resent nights in this house had been the easiest in years. 

The smell of wood and knowledge of safe surroundings really calmed him down. Even the crows stayed quiet around here. Woods guarded them from the sky and the ground was sturdy, the deer were calm. 

But mostly it had to be the fact that he hadn’t been this close to this many loved ones after their group separated. He had forgotten how it felt. 

 

He listened the sound of Taiyang’s footsteps moving in the hallway like he had done on all the previous nights. However on this night the weird routine changed. Instead of moving towards the kitchen and fading out, the sounds became closer. Qrow heard Taiyang moving towards the living room and then stopping at the doorway. 

 

The threshold creaked slightly in the mostly wooden room. The voice softened in the red blankets and pillows on the chairs.

 

For ten seconds it was just silent, Qrow aimed to give it a moment to calm and soft down the situation. They both seemed tense even with the desperate need to hear the other. 

He slowly rose up to a sitting position, peeking at Taiyang over the sofa’s back, seeing him for the first time in months. They both stared at each other with worry and deep mutual appreciation. 

 

Taiyang looked horrible. Despite spending all his time locked inside four walls, he clearly hadn’t slept much at all. Daffodil colored hair both flat from grease and pointy from wildered curls. Dark circles lining red eyes on a tired, tired face.

He really was lost.

 

Qrow dropped his feet from the couch, leaving an invitation in the form of a free space next to him. Seconds lingered in the air, but soon Taiyang moved forward and accepted the invite nervously. he dropped down on the cushion and Qrow noticed he felt two times heavier than usually. Not physically but mentally. 

 

He was so close that their arms brushed. Qrow was thankful and relieved that Taiyang was still this comfortable with him. 

 

Silence fell.

  
  


Taiyang sucked in a tired and sad breath. He looked almost limb and the tore of just coming here must have taken was huge. Qrow was nervous and tense, desperately waiting for a string of rope, a word, anything to know how he’d be able to help.

 

“...how.......how are the girls?” his voice was rasp and small. Grasping to get back something familiar.

 

Qrow looked at him softly. His own shoulders relaxing a bit at the realization that taeyang was still how he had always been in the core. Of course this was the reason for him to get this far outside his own walls. He reached towards him verbally.

“They’re healthy. Ruby still laughs like a newborn and Yang has clearly calmed now, but she still worries for you.” 

Taiyang nodded, staring at the floor between his legs, his whole form relaxing, melting into something a bit better. 

 

“You’ve got some good kids.” The warmth and affection in Qrow’s voice surprised even himself. Guess he really was getting too familiar with this privileged time he was having. Family life. 

 

Though it really didn’t feel blissful yet. Taiyang was a living reminder that great loss was ripping wounds to this fantasy. Qrow had his own regrets and sorrows concerning Summer, but he was afraid to face them, hiding behind the role of the responsible one. Honestly, Taiyang was the stronger one from the two of them. Qrow’s lamenting was cut by something he had never even thought.

 

“I’m a horrible father.. ” The other man laid more weight on Qrow and wiped his own sore eyes. 

 

Qrow flinched at this unexpected comment and glanced at the other, irritated, hurt. “Don’t say bullshit like that.” He would not accept any repressive words from a broken man. “You’re allowed to take as much time as you need. I will be here as long as you need.”

 

Tayang rose up from his slumpy state and looked almost straight. As if preparing to fight for this baseless mindset of his. “no. I am being unfair with all this. You’re needed elsewhere. I’m not going to lie, when you came here I was so relieved and thankful, but this is something I cannot ask from you. It’s way too much. I’ll figure something out, you need to help other people.”

 

Even with his own hurt, Qrow was not going to let this get under his skin. He took a deep breath, and moved enough to lock eyes with Taiyang. 

 

He kept his voice steady and clear, putting weight on every word. “Fuck everything else. You’re not asking too much. Compared to all you’ve done for me during our years... this is nothing!” Truth tasted sweet and unfamiliar on his tongue. 

 

Combat, time, it all had made the four of them close enough to work as one being. Understanding the other without words, both on the battleground and in everyday life. Taiyang had seen that unity as love with both Summer and Raven. How he saw it with Qrow.. had never been discussed. 

 

When he started, he continued. Persistent, emotional. “Heck, I feel constantly in depth only from being this close to you and your family.” 

Taiyang seemed baffled then confused, going trough more and more emotions. Questions forming on his mouth. Qrow glanced at him guickly and left out an irritated and sad huff. Ignoring and going on. “You know that not that many people accept me. They just tolerate me to use me. You guys are basically the only good family I have. Surely you understand that I want to protect that. So let me fucking do it.”

 

Taiyang was silent. Mind somewhere others didn’t reach. Until it was he who locked eyes with Qrow. Clear blue waters standing still behind his pupils, locking to the red in Qrow’s irises. 

 

He started to cry. 

This caught Qrow completely out of guard. He wasn’t good with blatant signs of emotion. Yet the man he cared majorly just crumbled down in front of him. Even though it could have been expected, it was still scary.

 

At this point his social brokenness really highlighted and he hated it. His hands actually shook when he wrapped them around Taiyang. Hoping that physical touch would be the thingto do. 

 

For him being calm had always worked. Qrow stedied his own breath and spread his palms wider on Taiyang’s back. Small buddle of hope jumping in his chest when he felt the other’s arms wrap weakly around his waist. It was a signal that what he was doing wasn’t wrong. 

 

As cliche as it all was, Qrow hadn’t felt this affectionate and remorseful in years. Sitting on the sturdy couch while the shattered moon shined its light from the window, almost like it was relating to the two. 

 

The house clock stood in the kitchen so nothing was there to break the silence and signal the time’s unstoppable moving. The moment almost existed outside of reality. Qrow paying catch with his own feelings while Taiyang’s emotions dripped on his shirt.

 

Qrow’s voice was barely a whisper but it didn’t really matter. they were close enough to hear the slightest sound the other made. “No matter what you say, I’'ll fucking stay.”

 

Taiyang’s voice was far from the steady hum that Qrow’s had been, it was shaky and teary. But luckily for Qrow who was afraid of him tearing up again, it was already a bit more calm. “yes, yes of course. I’m sorry.  _ Sigh _ . Once again you end up amazing everyone” his tone quickly fell from gratitude into heavy loathing. “I on the other hand fail to help even the ones depending on me. If it weren’t for you, Yang would have had to take care of them. All because I’m this weak.”

 

Qrow became stiff. His hands felt cold once again from the thought that Taiyang didn’t allow himself any low points. Considering that Qrow himself constantly hid everything under a layer of alcohol and never quite recovered into a healthy member of society, it felt wrong.

 

He let his voice soften but sturdy enough to make the other value his words. “You are not weak. Far from it. There’s nothing weak in still being able to love so much when the world gives us this much shit. Your ability to hold love has always been the most impressive ability in our group. If protecting it means spending the rest of my life here. It’s worth it.” He meant it all. Raven split the concept of reality and he the cages of the human form, but nothing matched to the way Taiyang was able to love so wholeheartedly. He calmed any citizen and still loved Raven even after all she had done to him. To Qrow, who came from a family of individuals stronger and colder than bedrock, it was blinding.

 

Taiyang was once again baffled. Qrow was never the person who let out soft words so easily. It was also hard to hear things so contradicting to your own beliefs “I never though anyone saw it like that..”

 

Qrow’s posture softened. “Not to sound rude but I think it says more about you than it says about us others”

 

Taiyang could only nod at that. 

 

Qrow tightened the hug once and pulled away lightly. He looked at Taiyang’s broken face. He kept his voice soft and held his hands on the other’s sturdy but weak shoulders. How weird it was that a bastard of a man like him was now the one comforting someone. “You can take all the time you want. The girls will understand if you don’t show yourself at all, I promise. but I think it would be good if you spent some time of the day with us. It doesn’t have to be much, but I think it would have a positive effect on you.” 

 

As much as Taiyang wanted to avert Qrow’s eyes, it felt ridiculous now, considering their time together and sheer age. He looked straight into the sunset magenta and asked one question he’d been thinking a lot after an hour in a room had turned to days. 

 

“Will the girls still see me as that same father who they can trust to protect them?”

 

Qrow smiled even though his heart felt pierced. Why did he put so much weight on his shoulders? Qrow wondered whether he would ever have kids. 

 

“You know what. Ruby actually brought that up during dinner yesterday. She asked Yang when they’d get to see you again. You know what Yang said?” he didn’t expect an answer, taeyang’s face was unreadable, and just continued. “She said that you’d come out right now if they needed you, but now they should just let you have your time.” 

 

He hummed. “I doubt Ruby completely understood that answer, but she nodded still, because you know what? That girl respects you forever no matter what. You’re her father and for her that fact will never change. Same with Yang. Even when she’s so mature for her age, she’d still ask your help first no matter what the problem.

It’s not the people around you who see little in you. It’s only yourself. And it’s the majority choice that wins.”

 

Taiyang ran his finders nervously by the seam of his pants, but seemed like a huge weight had been lifted from him.

“Thank you for saying that”

 

Finally after all the long tension, Qrow let out a light but honest laugh. “I’m just stating the obvious”

  
  
  


They fell into a calm silence, Taiyang laid his head on Qrow’s shoulder and they just watched the night together for a long while. until drowsiness truly got a hold of Taiyang. He had snuggled quite close and Qrow felt a little sad breaking the comfortable position, but the sun would be up in less than an hour, and when the sun was up, Ruby was up. He wanted to give Taiyang a chance to meet her with his own paste.

 

He suddenly didn’t know how to get his attention. It was all pretty intimate, almost like a very weird variation of pillow talk. Poking his cheek or sliding a finger along his arm felt way too much and even just talking seemed like something that would break the safe atmosphere.

 

After a moment he collected himself, decided to not think much of it and lightly pushed Taiyang. The other man blinked slowly and raised his head.

 

“The girls will be up soon.”

 

Taiyang lifted himself from where he had been half laying on Qrow. Muttering something that was probably a mix of “okay” and “thank you.” After one last long sigh he lifted himself up using Qrow’s tigh as support.

 

Qrow laid back on the sofa as the other moved away and yawned, a slight turn for the better seen in his posture.

 

Before exiting the room Taiyang turned around in the doorway. A weak but soft smile could be seen on his face as he whispered.“Qrow.. in this house, the majority thinks you’re a great guy.”

**Author's Note:**

> my art tumblr is uupunutnuori.tumblr.com


End file.
